“I changed my mind about not saying what I think. If you let people walk over you while you’re young, you should get used to wearing feet marks across your face for the rest of your life.”

“But part of love is a record playing, a needle that drops over and over, repeat and repeat, until the voices are scratched and the song is tired. But that's all right, all the scratches and skips, the knowing what line comes next. Sometimes a song just gets you You know?”

“And when you go to God's house, it ain't got to be no fashion show. You just come as you are.”

“Something's going on in Cordell's room, but I'm not sure I want to know what it is.”

“So much of teaching is sharing. Learning results in sharing, sharing results in change, change is learning. The only other job with so much sharing is parenting. That's probably why the two are so often confused.”

“I tend not to share things unnecessarily with those I despise.”

“It's not our job to be liked(teachers)", I reminded her. "Its our job to help them be smart(students)". Secretly, I thought, who gives a rat's ass if they like us? Sometimes I can hardly stand them!”